Theory of the stabilization of colloids by adsorbed polymer

Abstract

The configurational free energy of random flight polymer chains adsorbed by one end onto a plane surface as a function of the distance from a parallel plane surface is expressed to a good approximation in simple analytic form. The result is used to discuss the stabilization of a colloid suspension by adsorbed polymer. According to this theory two types of aggregation of colloid particles may occur. If LI < AS/2π 3 NkT , where l is the link length and L the contour length of a polymer chain, A is the Hamaker constant, N /S is the number of adsorbed polymer chains per unit area and kT is the Boltzman constant multiplied by temperature, the particles adhere closely, but if AS/2π 3 kT < IL < AS/nkT lg 2N a looser association is formed. It is expected that the presence of excluded volume effects would greatly increase the stability against the looser association.